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Albert Gallatin 



BY 

HENRY CABOT LODGE 






NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1879 



.a 1 1 Ui 



Copyright, 1879, 

BY 

HENRY CABOT LODGE. 



Trow's 

Printing & Bookbinding Co. 

205-213 £ast \ith St. , 

1879. 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 



Family pride led the Gallatins to boast a de- 
scent from A. Atilius Callatinus, the Roman 
consul (a. u. C. 494 and 498). A gap of fif- 
teen hundred years between the consul and the 
first appearance of the name in European his- 
tory tends to invalidate this rather splendid bit 
of genealogy, but there can be no doubt that 
the Gallatins were both an old and noble family. 
They are first heard of in Savoy in the year 
1258, and more than two centuries later they 
came to Geneva (15 10), united with Calvin in 
his opposition to Rome, and associated their 
fortunes with those of the little Swiss city. 
Here they remained, and with one or two other 
great families governed Geneva, and sent forth 
many representatives to seek their fortune and 
win distinction in the service of foreign princes, 
both as soldiers and ministers. On the eve of 
the French Revolution the Gallatins were still in 



4 GALLATIN. 

Geneva, occupying the same position which they 
had held for two hundred years. They were 
repubhcan nobles, simple in their manners, fru- 
gal and unostentatious in their habits of life, but 
genuine aristocrats of high breeding and culti- 
vated minds. They numbered among their 
friends such widely different persons as Voltaire 
and the landgrave of Hesse, and, although not 
wealthy, had everything that could reasonably 
be desired both socially and politically. 

Albert Gallatin, the most famous of the name, 
was born in Geneva on the 29th of January, 
1761. His father died in 1765, his mother five 
years later, and his only sister in 1777. Al- 
though left an orphan at nine years old, Albert 
Gallatin was by no means lonely or unprotected. 
His grand-parents, a large circle of near rela- 
tions, and Mile. Pictet, an intimate friend, cared 
for him during his boyhood. He was thor- 
oughly educated at the schools of Geneva, and 
graduated with honor from the college or acad- 
emy in 1779. His grandmother then wished 
him to enter the army of the landgrave of Hesse, 
but he declined to serve '' a tyrant," and a year 
later slipped away from Geneva and embarked 
for the United States. No man ever had less 



GALLATIN. S 

reason to emigrate. A competent fortune^ 
good prospects, social position, and a strong 
family connection, were all thrown aside in or- 
der to tempt fate in the New World. His rela- 
tions very properly opposed his course, but they 
nevertheless did all in their power to smooth 
his way, and continued to treat him kindly, and 
he himself in after-life always admitted the jus- 
tice of their opinions. The temper of the times, 
a vague discontent with the established order 
of things, and some political enthusiasm im- 
bibed/rom the writings of Rousseau, are the best 
reasons that can now be assigned for Gallatin's 
ill-considered desertion of home and friends. 

In July, 1780, Gallatin and his friend Serre 
landed in Massachusetts. They brought with 
them youth, hope, courage, and a little money, 
and at once entered into business. The times 
were unfavorable. The great convulsion of the 
Revolution was drawing to a close, and every- 
thing was in an unsettled condition. The 
young Genevans failed in business, passed an 
aimless and severe winter in the wilds of Maine, 
and returned to Boston penniless. Gallatin 
tried to earn a living by teaching French in 
Harvard College, apparently not without sue- 



6 GALLATIN. 

cess, but the cold and rigid civilization of New 
England repelled him, and he made his way to 
the South. In the backwoods of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia there seemed to be better chances 
for a young adventurer. Gallatin engaged in 
land speculations, and tried to lay the founda- 
tion of his fortune in a frontier farm". In 1789 
he married Sophia Allegre, and every prospect 
seemed to be brightening. But clouds soon 
gathered again. After only a few months of 
wedlock his wife died, and Gallatin was once 
more alone. The solitary and desolate frontier 
life became now* more dreary than ever ; he 
flung himself into politics, the only outside re- 
source open to him, and his long and eventful 
public career began. 

The constitution of 1787 was then before the 
people, and Gallatin, with his dislike of strong 
government still upon him, threw himself into 
opposition and became one of the founders of 
the Anti-Federalist, or, as it was afterwards 
called, the Republican party. Elections fol- 
lowed to State conventions and legislatures, and 
Gallatin rose with surprising rapidity. Despite 
his foreign birth and his inability to speak Eng- 
lish with correctness and fluency, he succeeded 



GALLATIN. J 

wonderfully. He was helped, of course, by his 
sound education ; but the true cause of his suc- 
cess lay in his strong sense, untiring industry, 
courage, clear-sightedness, and great intellec- 
tual force. In 1793 he was chosen United States 
Senator from Pennsylvania by the votes of both 
political parties. No higher tribute was ever 
paid to character and ability than that conveyed 
by this election. But although party feeling did 
not run high enough in Pennsylvania to prevent 
Gallatin's election, the staunch federalists of the 
Senate, who had began to draw the party lines 
rather sharply, found the presence of the young 
Genevan highly distasteful. They disliked his 
French origin, and suspected him to be a man 
of levelling principles. His seat was contested 
on account of a technical flaw in regard to the 
duration of his citizenship, and the Senate an- 
nulled the election and sent him back to Penn- 
sylvania with all the glory of political martyrdom. 
The part he had already taken in the exciting 
scenes to which he now returned had without 
doubt been an efficient cause in his rejection by 
the Senate. The success of the new scheme of 
national government turned at the outset upon 
the re-establishment of sound finances. To 



8 GALLATIN. 

carry out the great plans which he had set on 
foot, Hamilton had found it necessary to lay an 
excise on domestic spirits. This tax bore hardly 
upon the western counties of Pennsylvania, Vir- 
ginia, and North Carolina, where the people 
worked many small stills, and were thus able ta 
get their grain to market in a portable form. 
Strong opposition was manifested. Hamilton 
and his party modified the original excise law, 
and partly by their action, partly through the 
influence of Washington, the murmurs in the 
two Southern States died away. But in Penn- 
sylvania concession proved fruitless, and hos- 
tility became daily more active and dangerous. 

\y In this resistance to the excise, which was 
peculiarly odious to the people among whom 
he lived, Gallatin took a leading part. He in- 
tended fully to restrain opposition within legal 

^ boundsfbut he made the great mistake of em- 
barking upon the stormy sea of resistance to 
law without sufficiently allowing for the charac- 
ter of the population. The frontiersmen of the 
AUeghanies were a rough and sturdy race, with 
a large and unfortunate admixture of wild Irish. 
The law-abiding American spirit was by no 
means supreme. Legal resistance soon devel- 



GALLATIN. 9 

oped into insurrection. Houses were burned, 
revenue officers assaulted and driven from the 
country, and the United States mail was stop- 
ped and the letters seized by the rioters. The 
people began to arm and associate, thus pre- 
paring forcible resistance to the Government. 

Gallatin did his best to retrieve his error and 
prevent open war. With fine courage he faced 
the excited bands of riflemen who gathered at 
Redstone Old Fort on the 20th of August, 
1794, and opposed with vigorous eloquence the 
use of force against the Government. He 
checked the excitement sufficiently to prevent 
bloodshed ; but he was only just in time. 
Washington and Hamilton had at last deter- 
mined to test the strength of the new Govern- 
ment, and were moving with an overwhelming 
force upon the western counties. Gallatin had ' 
blundered in exciting and leading opposition to 
law among so rude a people, but he had also 
interposed with sufficient effect to stop desper- 
ate measures'", and the whiskey rebellion faded " 
away helplessly before the national power. 

Of all the men who took part in this opposi- 
tion to the excise, Gallatin alone came out with 
credit. He was at once elected to Congress, 



10 GALLATIN. 

and took his seat as a member of the Lower 
House in the autumn of 1795. A foreigner, 
still young, and speaking English with a very 
defective pronunciation, he nevertheless, by 
sheer force of abihtyand industry, wrested from 
aU competitors the leadership of the Republi- 
cans in the house, and almost at once became 
the most dangerous opponent whom the Fed- 
eralists had ever encountered in Congress. That 
great party, by simple weight of ability, gen- 
erally in a minority, and never in full sympathy 
with the mass of their countrymen, maintained 
their power unbroken for the first twelve years 
of the Government. They had established and 
organized that Government, and in so doing 
had borne down opposition with a high hand. 
They were as domineering as they were able, 
and inflamed with hatred of France, just then 
rising to the dignity of a party principle, they 
found in Gallatin an enemy who was both by 
origin and opinion peculiarly obnoxious to them. 
They attacked him unsparingly, but in vain. 
His perfect command of temper and modera- 
tion of speech and action, in a bitterly personal 
age, never failed, and were his most effective 
weapons ; but he made his power felt in other 



GALLATIN. 1 1 

ways. His clear mind and industrious habits 
drew him to questions of finance. He became 
the financier of his party, and preached unceas- 
ingly his cardinal doctrines of simplicity and ^ 
economy, and was an effective critic of the 
measures of Government. Cool and temper- 
ate, Gallatin, when following his own theories, 
was usually in the right, although accused by 
his followers of trimming. Thus, in regard to 
the Jay treaty, he defended the constitutional 
right of the house to consider the treaty, but 
he did not urge rejection in this specific case. 
On the other hand, when following a purely ^ 
party policy, he generally erred. He resisted 
the navy, the mainspring of Washington's for- 
eign policy, and the chief glory of the Feder- 
alists. He opposed commercial treaties and 
diplomatic intercourse in a similar fashion. On 
all these points he was grievously wrong, and 
on all he changed his views after a good deal of . 
bitter experience. The greatest period of Gal- 
latin's career in Congress was in 1798, after the 
pubhcation of the famous X. Y. Z. despatches. 
The insults of Talleyrand, and his shameless at- 
tempts to extort bribes from the American com- 
missioners, roused the deep anger of the people 



12 GALLATIN. 

against France. The Federalists swept all be- 
fore them, and the members of the opposition 
either retired from Philadelphia or went over 
to the Government. Alone and single-handed^ 

j Gallatin carried on the fight in Congress. The 
Federalists bore down on him unmercifully, 
and even attempted a constitutional amend- 
ment in regard to citizenship, in order to drive 

»^ him from office. Still he held on, making a 
national struggle in the national legislature, 
and relying very little upon the rights of States 

w so eagerly grasped by Jefferson and Madison. 
But even then the tide was turning. The 
strong measures of the Federalists shocked the 
country ; the leaders of the dominant party 
quarrelled fiercely among themselves ; and the 
Republicans carried the elections of 1800. 

Jefferson and Burr obtained an equal number 
of votes, and as the constitution then stood 
either was entitled to the presidency, although 
no one questioned that it had been intended for 
Jefferson. The election was thrown into the 
House, and the Federalists, maddened by de- 
feat, strove to give the presidency to Burr. 
They fortunately failed, but it was Gallatin who 
led the Republicans, prevented rash measures 



GALLATIN. 1 3 

retained the sympathy of the country, and had 
a careful plan prepared for any emergency. 

When, after this exciting contest, Jefferson 
took possession of the White House (1801), 
there were two men, and two only, whose com- 
manding abilities marked them for the first 
places in the cabinet. James Madison became 
Secretary of State, and Albert Gallatin Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. Wise, prudent, and con- 
servative, Gallatin made few changes in Ham- 
ilton's arrangements, and for twelve years ad- 
ministered the national finances with the great- 
est skill. He and Jefferson were both imbued 
with the idea that government reduced to the 
lowest possible point could be carried on upon 
a priori principles resting on the assumed per- 
fectness of human nature", and that, if this were 
done honestly, its authors would be implicitly 
trusted, and a political millennium would surely 
ensue. The chief burden of carrying out this 
theory fell upon Gallatin. His guiding prin- 
ciples still were simplicity of administration 
and speedy extinction of all debt, and every- 
thing bent to these objects. Fighting or brib- 
ing the Barbary pirates was a mere question of 
expense. It was cheaper to seize Louisiana 



y/ 



14 GALLATIN. 

than to await the settlement of doubtful points. 
Commercial warfare was to be avoided because 
of the cost. All wars were bad, but if they 
could not be evaded it was less extravagant 
to be ready than to rush to arms unprepared. 
Amid many difficulties, and thwarted even 
by Jefferson himself in the matter of the navy, 
Gallatin pushed on ; and after six years the 
debt was as far as possible paid, a large sur- 
plus was on hand, a comprehensive and bene- 
ficent scheme of internal improvements was 
ready for execution, and the promised land 
seemed in sight. Then came the stress of war 
in Europe, a wretched neutrahty at home, fierce 
outbreaks of human passions, and the fair struc- 
ture of government by a priori theories based 
on the goodness of unoppressed humanity came 
to the ground. Gallatin was thrown helplessly 
back upon the rejected Federalist doctrine of 
government according to circumstances. He 
uttered no vain regrets, but the position was a 
trying one. The sworn foe of strong govern- 
ment, he was compelled, in pursuance of Jeffer- 
son's policy, to put into execution the embargo 
and the most stringent measures ever taken by 
an American legislature. He did his best, but 



GALLATIN. 1$ 

all was in vain. Commercial warfare failed, the 
embargo was repealed, and Jefferson, having 
hopelessly entangled foreign relations and 
brought the country to the verge of civil war, 
retired to private life defeated and broken, and 
leaving to his successor Madison, and to Galla- 
tin, the task of extricating the nation from its 
difficulties. From 1809 the new administration, 
drifting steadily towards war, struggled on from 
one abortive and exasperating negotiation to 
another. It was a period of sore trial to Galla- 
tin. The peace policy had failed, and nothing 
else replaced it. He had lost his hold upon Penn- 
sylvania and his support in the House, while a 
cabal in the Senate, bitterly and personally hos- 
tile to the Treasury, crippled the administration 
and reduced every Government measure to 
mere inanity. At last, however, one of their 
blundering acts struck Napoleon in a vital spot. 
To escape its effects, he set himself to hood- 
wink the administration and trick the United 
States into war with England. The deception 
was successful, and was powerfully aided by a 
war party, violent and ignorant, but with plen- 
.*;y of fresh ability, full of the new spirit of na- 
\tionality, and determined to fight at all hazards. 



l6 GALLATIN. 

The result was inevitable, and Madison was 
forced to take the lead in June, 1812, in declar- 
ing war against England. 

Gallatin never wasted time in futile com- 
plaints. His cherished schemes were shattered. 
War and extravagant expenditure had come, 
and he believed both to be fatal to the pros- 
perity and progress of America. He therefore 
put the finances in the best order he could, and 
set himself to mitigate the evil effects of the 
war by obtaining an early peace. With this 
end in view he grasped eagerly at the proffered 
mediation of Russia, and without resigning the 
Treasury, sailed for Europe in May, 181 3. 

Russian mediation proved barren, but Galla- 
tin persevered, catching at every opportunity 
for negotiation. In the midst of his labors 
came the news that his old foes in the Senate 
had refused to confirm his appointment. He 
still toiled on unofficially until, Madison having 
filled the Treasury, his nomination for the sec- 
ond time met the approval of the Senate, and 
he was able to proceed with direct negotiations. 
The English and American commissioners fir 
nally met at Ghent, and in the tedious and irri^ 
tating discussions which ensued Gallatin took' 
the leading part. He dealt easily with his an-i 



GALLATIN. 1 7 

tagonists, who were all second-rate and obstinate 
persons, and drove them by quiet persistence 
and firmness from their first arrogant and im- 
possible demands. His great difficulty lay in 
managing his own colleagues, who were, espe- 
cially Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, able 
men of strong wills and jarring tempers. He 
succeeded in preserving harmony, and thus es- 
tablished his own reputation as an able diplo- 
mat. Peace was his reward, and, after visiting 
Geneva for the' first time since his boyhood, 
and negotiating a commercial convention with 
England, Gallatin returned to America. 

He received an immediate offer of the Treas- 
ury, which he declined, but accepted the mis- 
sion to France (1816), where he remained for 
the next seven years, which were in all proba- 
bility the pleasantest of his Hfe. He passed 
his time in thoroughly congenial society, seeing 
everybody of note or merit in Europe. He 
did not neglect the duties of his official posi- 
tion, but strove assiduously and with his wonted 
patience to settle the commercial relations of 
I is adopted country with the nations of Europe. 
- In 1823 he resigned his post and returned 
to the United States, when he found himself 
plunged at once in the bitter struggle then in 



1 8 GALLATIN. 

progress for the presidency. His favorite can- 
didate was his personal friend William H. 
Crawford, whom he regarded as the true heir 
and representative of the old Jefifersonian princi- 
ples. With these feelings he consented to run 
for the vice-presidency on the Crawford ticket. 
But Gallatin had come home to new scenes and 
new actors, and he did not fully appreciate the 
situation. The contest was bitter, personal, 
factious, and full of intrigue. Van Buren, then 
in the Crawford interest, came to the conclu- 
sion that the candidate for the second place, by 
his foreign origin, weakened the ticket, and 
Gallatin therefore withdrew his name and re- 
tired from the contest without reluctance. The 
election, undecided by the popular vote, was 
thrown into the House, and resulted in the 
choice of J. Quincy Adams, who in 1826 drew 
Gallatin from his retirement and sent him as 
minister to England to conduct another compli- 
cated and arduous negotiation with that power. 
Gallatin worked at his new task with his usual 
industry, tact, and patience, but the results 
were meagre, although an open breach was su(.- 
cessfuUy avoided. In 1828 he once more re, 
turned to the United States, and bade farewell 
to public life. 



GALLATIN. I9 

Accepting a business position in New York 
Avhich gave him a sufficient income, Gallatin 
turned his attention to the congenial pursuits 
of science and literature. In both fields he 
displayed great talent, and his book upon In- 
dian languages laid the foundations of the eth- 
nology of the American aborigines. He con- 
tinued, of course, to interest himself in public 
affairs, although no longer an active partici- 
pant, and in all financial questions, especially in 
regard to the bank charter, the resumption of 
specie payments, and the panic of 1837, he ex- 
erted a wide and beneficial influence. The rise 
of the slavery question touched him nearly. 
Gallatin had always been a consistent opponent 
of slavery, and in the early days of the Govern- 
ment had boldly attacked that institution when 
unable to find a dozen men of any party to side 
with him. He felt keenly, therefore, the at- 
tempts of the South to extend the slave power 
and confirm its existence, and the remnant of 
his strength was devoted in his last days to 
writing and distributing two able pamphlets 
cigainst the war with Mexico. Almost his last 
public act was a speech against the annexation 
(pf Texas ; and, although more than eighty 
i-ears old, he confronted a howling New York 



20 GALLATIN. 

mob with the same cool, unflinching courage 
which he had displayed half a century before 
when he faced the armed frontiersmen of Red- 
stone Old Fort. 

During the winter of 1848-9 his health failed^ 
and on the 12th of August, 1849, he passed 
peacefully away. 

Gallatin was twice married. His second wife 
was Miss Hannah Nicholson, of New York, by 
whom he had three children, two sons and a 
daughter, all of whom survived him. In per- 
sonal appearance he was above middle height, 
with strongly-marked features, indicating great 
strength of intellect and character. He was re- 
served and extremely reticent, cold in manner 
and not sympathetic. There was, too, a cer- 
tain Calvinistic austerity about him, but he was 
much beloved by his family. He was never a 
popular man, nor did he ever have a strong 
personal following, or many attached friends. 
He stood with Jefferson and Madison at the 
head of his party, and won his place by force 
of character, courage, application, and great 
intellectual power. His eminent and manifold 
services to his adopted country, his great abili- 
ties and upright character, assure him a higlji 
position in the history of the United States. 



Albert Gallatin 



BY 



HENRY CABOT LODGE 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1879 



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